noon for state of the union. my guests will be here in new hampshire presidential candidates bernie sanders, john kasich and chris christie. that's it for "the lead." i'm jake tapper signing off from beautiful dartmouth college and turning you over to wolf blitzer in "the situation room." wolf. happening now, scramble for third. our new poll shows donald trump and marco rubio running a clear 1, 2 in new hampshire but the battle is now on for the middle of the pack. ted cruz and john kasich, they are now tied for third. we'll hear from kasick this hour. trump trapped. his rivals are campaigning in new hampshire and even jeb bush's mother is out on the trail. but after flying home in his private jet, the front-runner was grounded in new york. not mincing words, bernie sanders and hillary clinton, they throw the gloves off in a stormy debate and trailing badly in new hampshire, hillary clinton complains that she's being smeared by her rival.

plus, laptop bomb. investigators believe it was a computer packed with tnt that blew a hole in an airliner. the man blown out of the plane may have been the bomber. al qaeda's african affiliate growing more dangerous. i'm wolf blitzer, you're in "the situation room." the breaking news, with only four days to go until the nation's first primary, our brand new cnn/wmur poll just out shows donald trump holding on to his big lead in new hampshire with marco rubio all alone in second place. ted cruz and john kasich are deadlocked in third. jeb bush is fourth and other candidates are slaugiogging thr the new hampshire snow and jeb bush's mother hitting the campaign trail, trump was stuck in new york city after flying back home in his private jet.

the democrats are throwing off enough heat to melt all that snow. they slugged it out in a fiery debate and hillary clinton tries to gain ground in new hampshire, as she sees her national lead shrinking dramatically. she's gone on the attack accusing bernie sanders are smear tactics. and we're getting chilling new details on the explosion aboard a somali airliner. investigators now suspect the man blown out of the plane was the bomber and carried a laptop computer packed with military-grade explosives. our correspondents, analysts and guests will have full coverage of all the day's top stories. with donald trump trapped in new york the other candidates had the snow-covered campaign trail to themselves today but it's stuff sledding out there. jim acosta is following the republican field. jim, what's the very latest? >> reporter: wolf, with just four days to go till the new hampshire primary, donald trump is missing crucial time on the campaign trail today. he was forced to cancel an event in new hampshire because his plane could not make it out of the snow in new york.

but trump is still scheduled to appear down here in south carolina as his rivals try to take advantage of his absence. >> by the way, i'm number one in new hampshire. will you please keep me there? this is ridiculous. >> reporter: after deciding to fly back to new york and spend last night at home, donald trump learned a cold, hard lesson in new hampshire politics. sometimes it snows. his private plane stuck in new york, trump scrapped his lone event of the day in new hampshire, tweeting big storm, moved my event to monday. instead trump released a video message from his office, praising new hampshire's motto, live free or die. >> it means liberty, it means freedom. what a great slogan. congratulations, new hampshire. wonderful job. >> reporter: jeb bush mocked trump on twitter, noting his mom, barbara bush, is still braving the elements. saying my 90-year-old mother made it out to campaign. >> vote for jeb. >> reporter: candidates trudging through the pre-primary snow is

a new hampshire tradition. marco rubio joked the real estate tycoon was behind the winter storm. >> i'll make america snow again, right? >> reporter: a new cnn/wmur poll finds trump's lead in new hampshire may be melting as gop rivals are catching up with nearly a third of the voters surveyed undecided. and rubio, who has surged to second place, is taking a pounding. jeb bush is knocking rubio's complaints about attacks coming from other contenders as childish. >> it's so unfair. >> reporter: the publisher of "the new hampshire union leader" who's endorsed chris christie piled on. rubio just got out of day care, adding i don't think he's got the gravitas that any of the three governors still in the race have. >> experience and judgment count in the oval office. jeb bush is a leader who will keep our country safe. >> reporter: bush is touting his experience and steadiness from an ad featuring his brother, the former president, to his mother, the former first lady, hitting trump. >> i'm not getting in a spitting

match with him. he can spit further than i can. >> reporter: barbara bush told contribution her son is just too polite compared to trump. >> we're going to knock the [ bleep ] out of isis. knock the [ bleep ] out of them. >> i don't think a president would ever shout profanities in a speech in front of thousands of people with kids in the crowd. >> reporter: but mrs. bush told cnn's jamie gangel she isn't wasting any energy thinking about her son's nemesis. >> i don't even think about him. i'm sick of him. that's very strong. >> reporter: now, it may seem strange for trump to be down here in south carolina, but this has been his strategy all along. he likes to jump ahead and speak in front of big crowds in states where contests loom down the campaign calendar. trump will be back in new hampshire tomorrow. he's got events scheduled all day tomorrow through primary day, wolf. just a few moments ago, an indication of how they were concerned about that ground game, they were doing a tutorial on how to conduct the ground game down here in south carolina

a few moments ago outside this arena. >> thanks very much. jim acosta reporting for us. the breaking news this hour, our brand new cnn/wmur poll shows donald trump sitting on a comfortable lead in new hampshire with marco rubio solidly in second place, ted cruz and john kasich now tied for third. let's bring in our cnn chief political correspondent dana bash. she's taking a closer look at the numbers. not much of a change, although kasich is solidly tied with cruz in third. >> that's right. if we can put those numbers back up, i think we can tell a bigger story here. donald trump is 28%. he's still in the lead by a pretty healthy margin. but as you said, rubio is number two and cruz and kasich are tied for second. i think what we need to remember here, wolf, it's still a 1, 2, 3, trump, rubio, cruz race. even in new hampshire where cruz has not spent a lot of time, where it's not kind of his natural constituency, the voters

of new hampshire, and kasich is doing much better than the other people who have been living there basically for so long. jeb bush maybe to a lesser extent, but chris christie especially. he almost has not gone home to new jersey very much. but one of the things i should say our viewers might be saying, why are you doing a poll, you did one yesterday. this is a tracking poll. the reason we historically do tracking polls between iowa and new hampshire is because of the fact that it is a very finite amount of time and things change so much historically in the five days to a week between those two time periods. and the electorate and the field tends to be so volatile, it is important to track every day because things do change very fast. >> it looks like kasich, the ohio governor, is gaining momentum in new hampshire. he's moving up in all these polls in recent weeks. he's really spent an enormous amount of time over there. it's possible he could come in second or third. cruz could come in fourth after

winning in iowa. that would be a pretty significant setback for cruz. >> it would, exempt as i said he was sort of tailor made for iowa, less so for new hampshire. he went to new hampshire right after iowa and then went right away to south carolina. one of the things that we should point out also, if you look at another screen here and jim acosta alluded to this in his piece is that 30% say they are still considering, 26% say they are leaning towards someone. it's that last number, 45% definitely decided. so what you have here is less than half of new hampshire voters say they know who they're going to vote for. having come back just last night from new hampshire, i was there several days, you hear that at every rally, no matter who it is. a lot of people, most people who i talk to, they're just not entirely sure yet. >> it's very fluid. we'll keep track with that tracking poll that we have. thanks very much, dana. don't go too far away. joining us now is daryl i say d

of california. senator, thanks very much for joining us. as you know, rubio coming under a lot of attack. jeb bush attacking rubio's lack of applicators. look at this brand new bush ad using clips from that rick santorum interview. >> what do you list as marco rubio's top accomplishment that made you decide to endorse him. >> i guess it's hard to say there are accomplishments. >> i'll ask it one more time. list one accomplishment that marco rubio has achieved in four years in the united states senate. >> jeb bush ran florida. marco rubio, finish the sentence. >> i would just say there's a guy that's been able to, number one -- >> the bottom line is he didn't get accomplishments did. neither did president obama. >> all right, congressman, what do you list as marco rubio's top accomplishment over the past four years as a united states senator? >> well acti, there's two the american people need to know about. he's the only one to author any legislation to defund obamacare

that actually became law and there are billions of dollars that the president would be back pedaling into shoring up obamacare that marco rubio was there to make sure didn't happen. and every senator knows that it was marco rubio that did it. it's well documented. additional ll additionally, by becoming a real specialty, an expert on national security, he's carved some solid record of where we should be, including on the iran sanctions and other legislation. and as someone who headed up investigations on the house side, i worked very closely, since marco rubio came there, on the getting his support and help in blocking many of the worst things this administration does. nobody is looking when you do that. you don't necessarily get the headlines, but i'll tell you, senators were key to my success in the house. i worked with marco rubio. that's why i called him several months ago and asked him if he would take my endorsement. i've been campaigning for him not because he called me, but because i called him.

>> is marco rubio part of the republican establishment? >> you know, i'm not sure who the establishment is. what i'll tell you is he charts his own course, he tells you what he believes, he's willing to be seen sometimes as a little moderate and sometimes as extremely conservative. but just like eisenhower and reagan, one thing that marco rubio has going for him, you see it in new hampshire, you saw it in iowa, is he's likeable. when you ask about what people like, marco rubio is always one of the top two names mentioned, usually number one. when you ask who they trust, they trust him. is he always the first choice? no. but as you saw in iowa and you're going to see in new hampshire, when the undecided break, they break towards somebody they like and trust. that's marco rubio. and, yes, for a fairly junior senator, he has an extremely good record of accomplishment. something that if you've been around long enough, i suppose after 20 or 30 years you accumulate a list. he has a very good list for the time he's been there, but the

top of the list with me is the help he gave me in oversight and in holding accountable this administration. >> listen to what governor christie of new jersey, presidential candidate, says about senator rubio's stance on abortion rights for women. >> on the issue of pro-life, marco rubio is not for an exception for rape, incest or life of the mother. now, i think that's the kind of position that new hampshire voters would be really concerned about. i'm pro-life, but i believe that rape, incest and life of the mother, as ronald reagan did, should be exceptions to that rule. >> i think you agree with ronald reagan on that too. are you uncomfortable with the very strong position against any abortion rights for women taken by senator rubio? >> you know, marco rubio is a man of faith who has his own convictions. but let's be honest. whether it's the democrats calling republicans nonpro women or it's republicans slinging

back and forth, the law of the land is well settled. unless you're authorizing a constitutional amendment, all of this discussion is for naught. the fact is roe decided this before most of the young voters were born. it is not an issue. but it's a great issue for chris christie, who doesn't have a conservative record and has essentially become the second governor of new hampshire to make. it's not working for chris christie. people understand that although marco rubio does have deep faith, he also recognizes you change what you can change and you can't change the constitutional interpretation. it's not going to happen under this president and it won't happen under the next. >> so roe versus wade settled law, obviously that's what you believe. but what christie says and he's said it several times, when people in new hampshire, republicans, moderates, independents, when they hear that he doesn't believe a woman, a 14, a 15, a 16-year-old girl who was raped, she doesn't have a right to get an abortion, they're going to be pretty angry at him and not going to like

him. >> you know, it's amazing that he wants to have it both ways. chris christie wants to be, quote, a conservative, not a moderate and then he wants to have the argument that the democrats have. let's make it clear, if you're pro life, you disagree with the decision that was made in roe, taking it away from the states, making it the law of the land that a woman as an absolute right to an abortion on demand. the reality is the court made that decision while i was still just entering college decades ago, and this argument is a false argument. the real question, i think, for these candidates are where are you on national security, what have you been doing about it, where are you on getting our economy going again through a private free market solution. and, by the way, can you build and grow our party. marco rubio has proven he can expand a base of supporters for him. he's proving it in those polls because new hampshire, the independents pull tickets and they're pooling rubio tickets. so this is somebody like dwight

david eisenhower and ronald reagan, pulls crossovers and independents and maybe chris christie doesn't like it. but the reality is a man for florida is outperforming in a state that's swing state is outperforming someone who is very proud of being a republican in a democratic state. that's for the voters to decide. but i'm not going to engage in sort of the petty arguing over settled issues. marco rubio's major stance, his work in the senate has been on confronting the excess and overreach of this administration. he is an advocate to really reform the government, make it more responsible and more transparent, and that's why i've been supporting him is i know he's where i am and i think i'm where the american people have wanted us to be. hold the government accountable, let the private sector work, start believing in people again, not government. >> darrell issa, thanks very much for joining us. >> thank you, wolf. we've got a lot more coming up. we're getting more information. we're also standing by. we're going to release the latest cnn/wmur numbers on the

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we're following the breaking news four days before the nation's first primary contest. the new cnn/wmur tracking poll shows donald trump with a strong lead over his republican rooils in new hampshire, but the field is crowded in the middle and many candidates are pinning their presidential aspirations on a very strong showing in the granite state. one such candidate is john kasich, who ties now for third place with ted cruz in our new poll. our chief political analyst, gloria borger, asked kasich about his campaign experience in new hampshire. >> what has been amazing in these town halls that i have

noticed and my friends pointed it out, i think they have turned in some of them into a safe harbor for people or a safe haven. people come, they talk about the trouble their kids are having. i mean people will come and they'll cry. they'll give me a big hug or i'll give them a big hug. they need somebody to care about them. somewhere to go where it's safe. and it's so weird for me to find it at a political event. >> let me ask you, now here in new hampshire trump has started to go on the retail circuit a little bit, is doing a few town halls. >> isn't that interesting. >> what do you think about that? >> that's the way you do it here. they don't care about celebrity, they don't care about money. these people want to know who you are. >> what's your advice for him? because he hasn't really done it. didn't do it in iowa. >> i just think it's -- you

can't play catchup here. >> who's your biggest competitor right now, if you look at this, at this field? >> i think my biggest competitor is being able to get my message out and correct, you know, the millions of negative about me. that's what i think the biggest challenge is for me. people have spent four, five, $6 million on the air, in mailboxes, you know, talking about -- >> jeb and christie you mean? >> even rubio. they have all spent money bashing me. fiorina calls me the media candidate. but my challenge is just -- i just wish people would say, well, tell us about this or answer this question. >> you are tied for third in our latest poll behind rubio and trump, and you have said if you get smoked in new hampshire that it's over. >> yeah. >> what does getting smoked mean? >> finishing sixth or seventh.

that's not going to happen. i don't even think we're third. i think we're running second. >> would you ever accept a vice presidential nod from somebody? >> no, no. i don't even -- that's kind of crazy. i wouldn't even think about that. i'm running for president. >> well, you are governor of ohio so other people might think about it for you if you didn't get the nomination. >> well, it doesn't matter. i don't -- i don't even think that way. >> you don't? >> i'd be the worst vice president anybody could ever imagine. i'd be worse than biden because i'm my own man. i'm not going to take orders from these people. it's not what i do, it's not who i am. i'm basically an unrelenting agent of change. >> and you couldn't do that as a vice presidential nominee? >> no. i have no interest in that. i'm running for president. >> what do you say about bernie sanders' charge against hillary and others that if you have a super pac, then you're bought -- you're bought and sold? >> well, it's an extreme statement. i knew bernie when i was in congress. give me a break. >> what was he like?

>> just way out in the middle -- you know, floating around pluto somewhere. i mean he's not -- this is ridiculous. i don't dislike bernie, i just don't take it serious. >> i was going to ask you about hillary taking money from goldman sachs, hundreds of thousands giving speeches. >> just because somebody makes a speech doesn't mean they're on the take. i don't think that's hillary's biggest problem. >> is there anything that drives you crazy about running for president? >> look, here's the thing. somebody said how would you feel, would you do it again if you had to do it? the answer would be yes. i mean it's been a great experience. now, we're not done yet. maybe something is going to happen and i'm going to hate it, i don't know. but right now i've enjoyed it. drive me crazy? nothing is driving me crazy. you know, we're like a traveling band of minstrels, to tell you the truth. they talk about no drama obama. we don't have drama. >> no drama. and let me ask you, if you could finish the sentence this way, i

ran for president -- >> to change the world. >> and maybe i lost, but -- >> i held my head high, kept my integrity, and created another -- created a positive legacy for my children and grandchildren. >> and gloria is joining us now live. gloria, good work. it's still a pretty crowded field up there where you are in new hampshire. you have rubio in second place. there's three governors out there. kasich just told you he thinks he's really in second place ahead of rubio and trump clearly is still in first place. that's pretty bold of him. >> reporter: it is. i think what he's really counting on, woclf, are these undeclared voters that can vote in either the republican primary or democratic primary. people are not affiliated with any particular party. that's 40% of the electorate here. and i think kasich's aides and kasich believe that he has a

good shot with a majority of those voters. so they figure if those people turn out and he can -- you know, tonight he's doing his 100th town hall he says, wolf. if those people turn out because he's become familiar to them, he hasn't run a negative campaign and they like him, then they believe they can come in second. we're just going to have to wait and see. and i think, you know, him being out here, somebody like donald trump being kind of stuck in new york works to their advantage. >> it probably does. kasich is a likeable guy, certainly in ohio, twice elected. as i like to remind our viewers out there, no republican has ever been elected president of the united states without carrying ohio. gloria, i want you to stand by for a moment and bring in more of our political experts. we're joined now by rebecca berg, a national political reporter, our cnn political commentator, ana navarro and ron brownstein, the editorial director of the national journal. guys, in fact, stand by for a

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let's get back to the breaking news. according to our brand new cnn/wmur tracking poll donald trump holds a significant lead over the rest of the republican field in flamnew hampshire, but contest for second place and third place could be just as important for candidates hoping to consolidate support as the nomination contest heats up. let's bring back our political experts. ron brownstein, i'll start with you. talk about this battle for second place. you just heard john kasich tell gloria he thinks he's really in

second place ahead not only of cruz but rubio as well. >> yeah, you know, it's hard to say what was hitting new hampshire harder today, snow or polls because there was a whole bunch of both descending on the state. i think they have really converged. largely donald trump in first, somewhere around 30%. a little lower than he's been in national polling and in state polling before iowa, so i think a little concerning for him, even though he's still ahead. i think most of the polls have converged with marco rubio at second. but a big pileup in that lane of center right more white collar where you have rubio, kasich, bush and christie. i know governor kasich said that he is going to continue if he performs well but if after all the time that he and bush and christie spend here, if they don't finish ahead of rubio, it's hard to see what is their path to do so later down the road. >> how much, gloria, is rubio suffering because of the attacks against him from the other

republicans, especially chris christie and jeb bush, for that matter? >> you know, i think he does suffer from it. look, negative ads work, and that's a problem for him. i think, however, he creates a larger problem for the three amigos, the governors who are here. i asked kasich about it and kasich said, look, don't call me establishment. they're all establishment. i'm a reformer. i'm not establishment, even though i've been in political office and i'm currently the governor of ohio. so he's trying to run in a funny way as an anti-establishment candidate. i'm not quite sure that works for kasich, but that's his sort of narrow path he believes. >> ana, i know you support jeb bush. you're friendly with rubio. i'll ask you what i asked darrell issa just a few moments ago. rubio's refusal to accept any

exceptions as far as abortion is concerned, not for rape, not for incest, not for life of the mother, is that going to hurt him with more independent moderate republicans in a state like new hampshire? >> i think it's much more of an issue in a place like new hampshire than it is in a place like iowa. i heard darrell issa's answer and i agree with him. marco rubio is a man of faith. he's got a very deep faith and i think that he is being truthful when he says that he is a pro-life candidate who does not believe in those exceptions. and i -- you know, i give him credit for being truthful, for saying his truth. he does not believe in exceptions, in abortion exceptions, so i think it is a different -- much different issue, plays much differently in new hampshire than it does in iowa. but marco is staying consistent. >> rebecca, as you know, donald trump couldn't make it up to new hampshire today. last night he flew back to new york, there was snow in new york. he's going to be in south carolina later tonight. is this going to hurt him a little bit in new hampshire, the

fact that he couldn't campaign on the ground personally? he did four or five events yesterday in new hampshire. >> the fact of the matter is, wolf, it hasn't hurt him to this point. donald trump has been in new hampshire much less than most of the other republican candidates, and especially when you're comparing him to candidates like john kasich, jeb bush and chris christie who have essentially moved to new hampshire for their presidential campaigns. donald trump by contrast actually has only done 45 events, according to the latest tracker that i saw, in new hampshire. 45 events in new hampshire for the whole election cycle and even in spite of that he's pulling in the top of the republican field. if he wins new hampshire, and there's a good chance he will, it's really going to throw into question this idea of new hampshire as a retail politics state because donald trump just hasn't had that approach. >> what do you think, ron brownstein? >> i think we've already moved past that. i agree. i think that organization is somewhat overrated in new hampshire. it is a primary state. and the entire process is being shaped more and more to the national dialogue. the amount of media and coverage

is so much fast lvastly greater it was when i started in the 1980s. what really matters in these states is the underlying demographic makeup of the state. this is a state where evangelical christians are much less important than iowa. that's one reason why no one on the republican side has won both of them since 1976. you see voters everywhere responding to the same currents in the national dialogue and the state's tipping one way or the other depending on the makeup of the electorate on each side. >> and, gloria -- go ahead, gloria, een you want to weigh in. >> i was just going to say anecdotally in talking to voters here, republican voters over the last couple of days, it seems to me that while some of them like donald trump and they seem to be deciding if they like trump, it's usually am i going to vote for cruz or am i going to vote for trump. those are the two. and voters here want to think that you're as serious about the campaign as they are, and they're very serious about it.

and i think that donald trump not being here today sends a signal, and the signal is, well, you know, why couldn't you have stayed overnight here in new hampshire? why did you have to go back to new york? and i think that's a bit of a problem. >> ana, go ahead. >> i absolutely agree, wolf. i'm here, i spent a lot of time on the phones today at jeb bush's headquarters making phone calls. i can tell you there is still a lot of voters out there in new hampshire who have not made up their mind. probably over 50% of the voters still not made up their mind. everybody else is here. you know, let me say this, voters in new hampshire, they show up to the town halls. they don't just show up to the town halls to the person they're leaning for, they show up to everybody's town halls. they have very particular issues they want addressed and they ask about. things like addiction, things like the moose population, epm, things that you may not get asked in other states. and i do think that it's going to make a difference.

we all thought that it wasn't going to hurt donald trump to skip the denate in iowa a few days before that iowa caucus and it did. let's all remember that just a few days before iowa, practically every single poll we saw had trump on top and he ended up losing. stand by. there's a lot more coming up. on the democratic side it's getting pretty intense over there as well. much more right after this. you both have a

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hillary clinton and bernie sanders, they're on the campaign trail tonight fighting for every vote just four days before new hampshire's crucial primary contest. the candidates have also been tangling on the debate stage as clinton tries to fight off suggestions from sanders that her campaign is beholden to wall street. jeff zeleny is following all the action and is joining us live from manchester, new hampshire. jeff, what is the very latest? >> reporter: wolf, there's far less shouting today on the campaign trail like we saw last night at that debate, but that does not mean their differences are any less distinct. >> i am not going to stop fighting for new hampshire. >> reporter: in their bitter primary fight, hillary clinton extended a hand today to bernie sanders. >> i will call senator sanders the first call i will make. >> reporter: but it sounded more like a consolation prize than an olive branch. >> i look forward to working with him as a partner in the senate. >> reporter: four days before the new hampshire primary,

clinton is looking beyond sanders' commanding lead here and playing the long card of inevitability. >> i'm so fortunate as to get this nomination so we can turn our attention to what we really need to do and make sure we don't get a republican back in the white house. >> reporter: but sanders is also playing the long game, armed with support he never imagined, shaking up the democratic party. >> what this campaign is trying to do is ask the american people to think big and not small. >> reporter: one thing the campaign is getting is heated. face to face for the first time since the contest became a two-person race, the rancor was clear on last night's debate stage. >> time and time again, by innuendo, by insinuation, there is this attack that he is putting forth, and i really don't think these kinds of attacks by insinuation are worthy of you. >> reporter: she's talking about

his charge that she's beholden to wall street. >> enough is enough. if you've got something to say, say it directly, but you will not find that i ever changed a view or a vote because of any donation that i ever received. i think it's time to end the very artful smear that you and your campaign have been carrying out in recent weeks. >> being part of the establishment is in the last quarter having a super pac that raised $15 million from wall street. >> reporter: sanders is trying to make money and judgment defining issues in the race. >> experience is not the only point. judgment is. and once again, back in 2002 when we both looked at the same evidence about the wisdom of the war in iraq, one of us voted the right way and one of us didn't. >> a vote in 2002 is not a plan to defeat isis. we have to look at the threats

that we face right now and we have to be prepared to take them on and defeat them. >> reporter: the acrimony continues, but sanders is taking a brief detour for his turn on "saturday night live" where his uncanny don el ganger, larry david, is hosting. >> i don't have a super pac. i don't even have a backpack. >> reporter: he played along with anderson. >> do you do a larry david imitation? >> anderson, i'm going to -- i know you've been in journalism for a long time. >> are you doing your larry david right now? >> this is the scoop. i am larry david. and you didn't get it! >> reporter: so we're about to see bernie sanders as larry david on snl on saturday, but the humorous side, this is really getting intense between these two. the sanders campaign was offended, i'm told, by one advisor, that his rival said that she would enjoy working with him in the senate. they said he is running for president and this race is going

to go on for a long time. wolf. >> let's see what happens, can't wait for tomorrow night, snl as well. thanks very much, jeff zeleny. coming up, as the democratic campaign heats up in new hampshire, our new poll results show where that race may be headed. we'll share the results at the top of the hour. and investigators now believe it was a computer packed with tnt that blew a hole in the airliner. was the man blown out of the plane? was that man the bomber? we have stunning new information. ♪ look how beautiful it is... honey, we need to talk.

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it had no mouth, but it spoke to me. it said, "rocky mountaineer: all aboard amazing". breaking news tonight. chilling new details about the bomb that nearly brought down an airliner this week. the man who may have been the bomber and the deadly terror

group that may have been responsible. cnn's brian todd has been trying to put it all together for us now for several days. you have new information, brian, what are you learning? >> wolf, tonight we have new very disturbing information about this explosion. chilling new evidence that a second major terrorist group may have developed creative, very dangerous methods of evading airport security. a source close to the investigation tells cnn the blast that ripped this hole in the fuselage of a plane full of passengers was caused by a bomb concealed in a laptop. and it appears the only passenger killed may have been the bomber, blown out of the hole by the explosion. the source tells cnn investigators believe the attack was orchestrated by al shabab, al qaeda's brutal affiliate in somalia. tonight somali officials identify the bomber as lborleh. either way, analysts say, if al

shabab was behind the attack, it shows a frightening advancement in its capabilities. >> what we've seen from al shabab in the last few years siz the group increasingly getting into the international terrorism business. they have been developing a more sophisticated international terrorist unit capable of launching attacks in the region. >> reporter: the explosion occurred between 12,000 and 14,000 feet and the pilot was able to make an emergency landing in mogadishu. a source familiar with the investigation says if the plane had reached cruising altitude when the blast occurred, it would have been catastrophic. more chilling, the bomber knew precisely where to sit and how to place the device to maximize damage. >> in this case you have it along the outer edge of the seats, directly against the fuselage skid and directly over the center wing. both of those are recipes for real damage. >> reporter: sources say tnt was the explosive used. it should have been easily

detected. tonight, investigators are asking serious questions about airport security in mogadishu. >> the question is what technologies are being deployed? physical inspection is not sufficient enough. you have to use technology to detect trace explosives that might be secreted in a laptop or other types of technologies. >> one man who could have helped al shabab get this man past security, the master bomb maker for another al qaeda affiliate, al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. western intelligence officials say he is the man behind the underwear bomb and printer cartridge bomb plots targeting planes heading to america. terrorism analysts say al shabab and his group have forged ties with one another and al shabab's recruits have trained in bomb making in yemen. >> this may not have been the first time al shabab has actually concealed a bomb in a laptop, right? >> that's right, wolf, in 2013

explosions in a hotel in mogadishu killed at least six people. witnesses said there were two blasts, a car bomb detonated after a smaller device planted in this laptop went off inside the hotel's reception area. al shabab also claimed responsibility for that attack, so they may have done this at least more than once, planting a bomb inside a laptop computer. >> it could have killed a lot more people. all right, brian, thanks very much. coming up, their exchanges are hot enough to melt the new hampshire snow as hillary clinton and bernie sanders, they take off the gloves. our new poll shows just where they stand right now. you can't predict... the market. but at t. rowe price, we can help guide your investments through good times and bad. for over 75 years, our clients have relied on us to bring our best thinking to their investments so in a variety of market conditions... you can feel confident... ...in our experience. call a t. rowe price retirement specialist or your advisor ...to see how we can help make the most of your retirement savings. t. rowe price.

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♪ light piano today i saw a giant. it had no arms, but it welcomed me.

(crow cawing) it had no heart, but it was alive. (train wheels on tracks) it had no mouth, but it spoke to me. it said, "rocky mountaineer: all aboard amazing".

happening now, artful sneer. hillary clinton and bernie sanders take off the gloves in their most heated debate yet, battling in a series of fiesty exchanges over who's more progressive. and breaking now, exclusive new poll numbers on their race for the democratic presidential nomination. bush's lead, jeb bush deploys his mother and brother in an effort to bolster his campaign. barbara bush taking some not-so-veiled swipes at donald trump. syrian slaughter. fighting intensifies in one of the world's most brutal conflicts. the u.s. saying russian bombs are killing women and children in large numbers. tens of thousands more people displaced on top of the millions who have already fled. are saudi forces about to join the fighting on the ground. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer, you're in "the situation room."

we're following the breaking news in the democratic race for the white house. a just-released cnn/wmur tracking poll of new hampshire voters who head to the polls just four days from now shows bernie sanders the clear favorite, enjoying a commanding lead over hillary clinton, who's accusing him of what she calls an artful smear in their latest debate. on the republican side our new poll shows donald trump maintaining his double-digit lead while jeb bush comes in fourth. the former florida governor hoping his mother might win over some voters. barbara bush taking several swipes at donald trump as she campaigns for her son today, telling cnn she's, quote, sick of him. that would be donald trump. we're covering all of that. much more this hour with our correspondents and our guests, including a key trump supporter and our expert analyst are also

standing by. let's begin with our exclusive new cnn/wmur tracking poll conducted by the university of new hampshire survey center. it shows bernie sanders the choice, get this, of 61% of likely democratic new hampshire voters in tuesday's primary. hillary clinton is 30 points behind with just 31% right now. cnn's senior washington correspondent joe johns is in new hampshire for us tonight. joe, bernie sanders obviously the clear favorite right now. what's the latest? >> reporter: wolf, they're hoping they saw some evidence of that on the campaign trail here just today. here a very large crowd turning out for bernie sanders in spite of a big snowstorm. he says he sees momentum in the crowd. the calendar might show four days until the new hampshire primary, but hillary clinton is already looking beyond the fight for the nomination. >> i will call senator sanders,

the first call i will make, if i'm so fortunate as to get this nomination. we have a lot of work to do. i look forward to working him as a partner in the senate. >> reporter: and today bernie sanders is decrying the role of money in politics. >> people are obsessed with raising money. it is getting worse because of citizens united. so i think we need to move toward public funding of elections. >> reporter: the fight between these two democrats is growing more intense. hillary clinton airing an ad in new hampshire jabbing sanders for his idealistic proposals. >> the american people can't afford to wait for ideas that sound good on paper but will never make it in the real world. >> reporter: and in their final debate before voters head to the polls tuesday, clinton and sanders engaging in a series of fiesty exchanges. >> i think it's time to end the very artful smear that you and your campaign have been carrying out in recent weeks and let's

talk -- let's talk about the issues. >> reporter: continuing to trade barbs over which of them is a true progressive. >> if we're going to get into labels, i don't think it was particularly progressive to vote against the brady bill five times. >> one of the things we should do is not only talk the talk but walk the walk. i am very proud to be the only candidate up here who does not have a super pac, who's not raising huge sums of money from wall street. >> reporter: clinton calling out sanders for repeatedly saying her campaign takes money from big banks and special interests. >> enough is enough. if you've got something to say, say it directly. but you will not find that i ever changed a view or a vote because of any donation that i ever received. >> reporter: and assuring voters there will be no more surprises in the e-mail controversy hanging over her campaign. >> before those e-mails, it was benghazi, and the republicans were stirring up so much

controversy about that. and so i think the american people will know it's an absurdity. i have absolutely no concerns about it whatsoever. >> reporter: sanders will step off the trail and onto the "saturday night live" stage this weekend, where he will appear alongside host larry david, who impersonated the candidate earlier this season. >> i own one pair of underwear, that's it! >> reporter: in just about an hour, sanders and hillary clinton attend a dinner sponsored by the new hampshire democratic party. that, of course, will be the dinner that comes after two days of vigorous face-off between these two candidates. sanders also announcing the endorsement of ben gellus, the former head of the naacp, hoping that endorsement will help him when this road show moves to south carolina where african-american voters are so critical. wolf. >> they certainly are. thanks very much for that, joe johns. i want to show our viewers this

national poll released today by quinnipiac university. look at this, in december hillary clinton nationally among democrats was way ahead, 61% to bernie sanders 30%. right now hillary clinton is at 44%, bernie sanders 42%, within the margin of error. look at how those numbers have changed since december. on the republican side, donald trump remains the man to beat in new hampshire. he's at 28% with marco rubio 11 points behind in second place. ted cruz who won the iowa caucuses, he's tied for third place with the ohio governor, john kasich. jeb bush is back in fourth place. our chief political correspondent, dana bash, is covering the gop race for us tonight. the stakes really are high for these republicans. >> they sure are very high, especially since four days out the majority of voters say they're not entirely sure who they're going to vote for, and it is donald trump who has the most to lose because he's sitting so high atop the polls, which is why being act in the

granite state today is the last thing trump needed. it turns out being a billionaire with your own plane can be politically perilous. >> i'm number one in new hampshire. will you please keep me there. >> reporter: after last night's rally, trump went home to new york. he said his plane couldn't get back to new hampshire this morning because of the snow, tweeting big storm in new hampshire. moved my event to monday. will be there next four days. and posting this on facebook. >> the great slogan of new hampshire, live free or die, means so much to so many people. all over the world they use that expression. >> reporter: but granite state voters expect to see candidates in person. being absent for a day this close to the primary is not ideal, especially since trump has been stepping it up with more traditional retail campaign events. jeb bush trolled trump about it on twitter saying my 90-year-old mother made it out to campaign. jeb bush did bring out his mother and the popular former first lady also had a thing or

two to say about trump during an interview. >> he sort of makes faces and says insulting things. i mean he's said terrible things about women. terrible things about military. i don't understand why people are for him for that reason. >> reporter: jeb bush suddenly seems to be embracing the bush brand, not only campaigning with his mother, but even releasing a new ad with a more controversial family member, his brother. >> i know jeb. i know his good heart and his strong backbone. jeb will unite our country. >> reporter: but bush's former proteg protege, marco rubio, could be standing in his way. bush is sharpening his criticism with this new ad. >> jeb bush ran florida. marco rubio, finish the sente e sentence. >> i'd say there's a guy that's been able to, number one -- >> the bottom line is he didn't get accomplishments done, and neither did president obama. >> reporter: rubio is taking a lot of incoming. the publisher of new hampshire's

conservative "union leader" wrote young rubio must make new hampshire a bunch of rubes. he hasn't spent much time here but is trying to sell himself with tv ads as someone who can go to washington to clean up the washington mess. and chris christie, who's been camped out in new hampshire for months, is hitting rubio and ted cruz as johnny-come-latelies. >> two guys who have spent the least amount of time in new hampshire, by far. and because they came in second and third in iowa, you're going to let them come in second and third in new hampshire? >> that appeal to granite state voters, pride and being independent, not to mention their contrarian sensibilities shows how much christie has been spending in new hampshire, he really gets them. but what he and others have to overcome is another phenomenon we found and that is a lot of people said, wolf, that they want to vote for a winner and that's why they're taking a look at marco rubio since he did so well unexpectedly in iowa.

>> all right, dana, thanks very much. let's get some more on all of this with a key donald trump supporter. scottie hughes is a chief political correspondent for usa radio network. scottie, thanks very much for joining us. take a look at this poll. our new cnn/wmur poll shows trump still in the lead, rubio steadily rising, he's in second place, but kasich and cruz are tied in third place. your reaction. >> well, the poll is exactly the same way since iowa. these are great numbers for mr. trump, that means they're unchanged. aka iowa has already forgotten, like mr. trump has already forgotten iowa. going forward, i agree it is focusing on new hampshire. this would have been ideal for mr. trump to hold his rally today. it's not like he's at home sitting on his couch, he's down in south carolina holding a rally. a few days ago he was in little rock, arkansas, and did have plane troubles. everything is legitimate reaches why he's not in new hampshire. he rescheduled the event monday and will be back in new

hampshire the next four days. so the granite state is not being ignored by mr. trump. if anything, he's doing everything he can to get back there and probably spending more time with the people because of this and not necessarily putting their lives at risk by holding these large rallies that other candidates obviously don't care for their safety in making them get out to be at. >> scottie, you've heard the criticism. he was in new hampshire yesterday. he did four or five separate events. he moved about very rapidly. why didn't he just say overnight in new hampshire last night like the other candidates, get up this morning and do some more events before flying down for tonight's event in south carolina? >> well, because -- i mean look at the weather reports today, wolf. this morning we've seen blankets of snow that have gotten worse today, the weather conditions. why not take advantage of this, go down to south carolina, it's a very important state, and he'll be back up there tomorrow. so it's not like he's trying to do anything like insulting, he's been there the past few days. he's going to be back. he's holding all of the rallies he promised. he just wants to do it when it's

safe for all of those people to get there. listen, he's not like the other candidates that just have 20, 30, 200, 300 showing up at his events. he has thousands. those are thousands of people he has to care for and make sure they get there safety. by sitting there and saying get out on these icy, snowy roads to get to my event, it's selfish of some of these candidates in my opinion. >> 30% of likely republican voters say in their new poll that they're still considering which candidate they'll vote for, they're still undecided, an it's only a few days from the primary. i guess that's a big number, a third -- about a third of the voters there still haven't made up their mind. >> and that's something that can happen tomorrow night during the debate. that is something mr. trump is working very hard in preparing for. he is definitely going to be on the positive and optimistic tomorrow night's debate hoping they'll talk more about policy and leaving some of the child's play that's been happening in the past few weeks behind. that's where you're going to sit there an impress knows granite state voters. it's not by shaking their hands

for two seconds. it's being able to discuss these policies, which is what he's hoping to do tomorrow night and that should win them over. the other thing about that poll i find interesting is it looks like rubio is gaining ground but he's taking it away from christie, who's basically lived there more than he has in new jersey. so at this point i think that's something that is to be said that, you know, it's chris christie and you've got jeb bush with his mommy there having to stick up for him and call him a nice guy in order to be elected president that isn't working. i think the people in the granite state are smarter than that. they want to hear policies and see actions. it doesn't matter how much time you invest in new hampshire, it's about the quality, not quantity. >> what do you think among the republicans is the biggest threat to donald trump winning the nomination? >> i honestly don't think it's any of them. i think it's the pettiness of the gop that is the biggest threat to any of the candidates winning the nomination. listen, we saw a good debate last night on the democrats

side. if you're a democrat, you are high fiving each other because you saw good jabs and saw policy being discussed. we've not had that opportunity really amongst these gop candidates yet because there's been too many of them on the stage to have a thorough discussion. so i think at this point nobody is a threat to donald trump. none of the candidates are a threat to him except for the overall gop and the party itself and these politics that continue to be played that only damage the brand of the republican party. it's time for them to start acting like adults. if you can win, stay in the race. if you can't, get out and let the voters really get a chance to hear candidates who pos potentially could be president. >> i think there's going to be seven republicans on the stage tomorrow night on that stage. scottie, stand by, i want to show you live pictures from south carolina right now. you see another big trump rally about to get under way. donald trump is in south carolina. we're going to cover that story obviously as well. much more when we come back. today people are coming out to the nation's capital to support an important cause that can change the way you live for years to come.

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republican presidential candidates are out in full force tonight campaigning in new hampshire, most of them at least. take a look at these live pictures. there's marco rubio. he's in derry, new hampshire, campaigning there. chris christie, he's in salem. there's chris christie in salem, new hampshire. jeb bush is in concord, new hampshire. all live right now. donald trump getting ready for a big rally in south carolina right now. there's florence, south carolina, donald trump rally, they're getting ready for that. the breaking news tonight, our exclusive new cnn/wmur tracking poll shows donald trump with an 11-point lead in new hampshire which holds the first primary of the 2016 election in only four days. we're back with trump supporter scottie hughes, a tea party leader, chief political correspondent for usa radio

networks. scottie, trump has certainly toned down, at least over the past 24 hours or so, his rhetoric. he released this live free or die video aimed at new hampshire voters. does he think, shall we say, a less blunt, less angry donald trump is a better strategy right now to win new hampshire? >> i think he's showing how diverse he is. i mean some -- there's some times, wolf, that you get angry and some things that happen in this world need someone that can get angry. we don't need the nice guy all the time. i think that's why people like mr. trump because they can relate to him. people aren't just angry all the time or nice all the time, it's whatever the situation deserves. there has been times in this campaign that he has needed to stick up for himself and show that he is angry, but there are times right now where he actually needs to talk to the people. the people don't make mr. trump angry, the people are the reason why he's in this campaign. you have to sit here and constantly we're talking about the grassroots of mr. trump and maybe he should be in new

hampshire tonight instead of south carolina. listen, this is his first campaign. he doesn't have a bunch of d.c. staffers or consultants telling him where to go, so maybe he's not doing it the traditional way but it's obviously working because it's getting him in front of the people, which is who he cares the most about and who he puts his message to focus on. >> after new hampshire, the next big contest is south carolina, not too far down the road as you pointed out. earlier in the week he was in little rock, arkansas, they have a big contest coming up on super tuesday, march 1st, as well. you also scott scottie, he dropped the line about cruises stealing the iowa caucus, he says he's moved past that. why has he decided at least on this specific issue to make peace with cruz. >> it's because it's done with. what he does, he brings it to the public's attention and then lets the public decide and he goes on, he moves on. it does no good to show this infighting happening between him

and cruz and he knows that. i think senator cruz also should know that because one of the reasons why rubio is gaining in the polls is he's gaining people from that fight. so that's the best part about this is that donald trump can let things go. he doesn't sit there and try to hold grudges, he moves on and moves on to what's important. at this point it's the people of new hampshire. after that, the people of south carolina and the rest of the states in the s.e.c. >> nevada in between as well. >> that's true. >> scottie, thanks very much. we'll continue these conversations down the road. we'll stand by once again, donald trump getting ready for his big event in south carolina tonight. let's get some more on all of this. joining us, our chief political correspondent, dana bash. also joined by national political reporter for real clear politics rebecca berg and cnn politics executive editor, mark preston. mark, as you know trump skipped that town hall in new hampshire due to weather, he couldn't get out of new york earlier today. jeb bush tweeted this.

my 90-year-old mother made it out to campaign. she met destiny, age 5, a little girl. you see over there. do you think skipping this event today will cost him? >> look, i think it was a mistake for donald trump to leave new hampshire and go back to new york to sleep last night and of course we had weather issues here in new hampshire all day. he has an 11-point lead right now. he doesn't have a 30-point lead in new hampshire. we've seen in past campaigns deficits like that be overcome. we saw that happen in 2008 when hillary clinton came into new hampshire. she was supposed to lose new hampshire and she overcame it and defeated barack obama, even though barack obama was doing so well in the polls. to the point now of jeb bush tweeting that out right now, i was talking to a source very close to jeb bush today about tomorrow night during the debate, what does jeb bush need to do. two things i was told. first thing is he needs to compare and contrast himself with marco rubio, specifically when it comes to leadership and as far as resume. and inspect terms of donald trump, he needs to go after

donald trump. we've seen jeb bush in past debates be very subdued, that is not his personality. but to the point with donald trump potentially going after jeb bush tomorrow night saying that he had to have his mommy defend him, maybe that's going to be the button that needs to be pushed that these bush supporters want to see jeb bush step up and take on donald trump. >> let me ask dana about that. all of a sudden barbara bush, 90 years old, she's out there campaigning, god bless her, with her son in new hampshire. should she have been there earlier? because the suspicion was that jeb was running away from his last name. >> i mean possibly, but i don't think that it's probably that easy to get a 90-year-old woman out on the campaign trail with regularity. look, it seems to me that jeb bush has realized that he can't run away from his name. even if he just has jeb on his placard, even if he talks extensively about his record in florida, how he's his own guy, he's still a bush. and so why not own it,

especially in a place like new hampshire, especially if you have a mother like barbara bush, who is beloved. and i thought that was interesting. i thought more interesting tactic was using his brother in an ad, in a brand new ad. i mean that's just going all in. he's going full bush on new hampshire right now. so why not, because especially, you know, in new hampshire and other places, among republicans, george w. bush is still popular. >> i think that ad, they want to run it in south carolina. >> of course. >> where former president bush is a lot more popular among republicans. >> but just even to use him anywhere at this point. >> rebecca, there's another ad the jeb bush campaign is releasing going after marco rubio and citing an awkward interview with rick santorum who has endorsed marco rubio. watch this. >> what do you list as marco rubio's top accomplishment that made you decide to endorse him? >> i guess it's hard to say there are accomplishments. >> i'll ask it one more time. list one accomplishment that marco rubio has achieved in four

years in the united states senate. >> jeb bush ran florida. marco rubio, finish the sentence. >> pretty awkward moment there if you take a look at the rest of that ad. i guess jeb bush seize marco rubio as his biggest threat right now, is that right? >> jeb bush has a lot of big threats right now, marco rubio is certainly one of them. in the case of that ad, it pretty much wrote itself. the question we have to ask ourselves at this stage of the campaign is whether this attack is going to work for jeb bush and some of the other candidates. chris christie making similar points. when it hasn't worked to this point. jeb bush and right to rise spent millions of dollars in iowa trying to make those very points, that marco rubio didn't have experience, that he hadn't actually accomplished anything, that he wasn't ready to go to the oval office. and obviously that fell flat. marco rubio did better than expected in iowa. the concern for jeb bush is does that also happen in new hampshire. >> we'll see what happens. right now in our new poll he's number two, but these numbers could clearly change over the next four days.

the most important poll is the actual voting on tuesday. mark, chris christie, he is also really going after rubio right now. chris christie is at an event, we can show our viewers some pictures right now, he's in salem, new hampshire. but he's nonstop going after rubio, blasting him on all sorts of issues, saying he basically accomplished nothing in the senate, criticizing his stance on abortion with no exceptions for even rape, incest or life of the mother. what's his strategy now, chris christie? >> first of all, some of the things that chris christie has said about marco rubio are amazing. he calls him the boy in the bubble. the reason why we've seen that is because the christie campaign needs to break through this media chatter right now that seems to be focused on donald trump. we're spending a lot of time talking about bernie sanders and hillary clinton. chris christie needs to do well here in new hampshire and tomorrow night i'm told by someone very close to him that he's being advised not to be so nice during the debates. in the previous debates we've seen chris christie focus all of

his energy on hillary clinton and telling others, look, we're republicans. we shouldn't be attacking one another. however, heading into tomorrow night, he needs to start attacking people. but it comes at risk with chris christie. they want to make sure that chris christie is sharp and he executes it correctly. they don't want him to do basically the full christie where he just unloads, because he still has to show that, that ceo kind of mentality that he's trying to exude as a governor. >> dana, listen to jeb bush. here he's talking about marco rubio's attitude, his complaining about attack ads. listen to this. >> i'm being attacked by marco rubio's super pac. and i don't feel that it's so unfair, you know, just not -- look, get over it, man. he spends all his time complaining about people doing advertising. this is politics. >> the point he's trying to make is that rubio has trouble dealing with criticism, is that

right? >> not just that, jeb bush's super pac has unloaded on him. really in a remarkable way to the point where you have a lot of chatter behind the scenes of the so-called establishment republican figures saying, you know, cut it out because we actually think that marco rubio is the only chance at this point we have to stopping a ted cruz or donald trump, who they don't like. but i thought that that was actually quite effective, because he said a lot, you know, with his words but even more so with his mannerisms. but you don't actually see a lot from jeb bush. he clearly was trying to say that he has been skimmed but the way he made fun of him as if he was pouting, he's also saying he's a young kid basically. >> our new tracking poll in new hampshire, you saw it, rebecca, still has donald trump way ahead. there he is, marco rubio, in second place. look, a tie for third place, 13, 13 for john kasich and ted cruz. there are some out there, maybe this is wishful thinking on the part of some republicans, who

don't like ted cruz who are already suggesting he's going to turn out eventually to be the santorum who won iowa four years ago or the huckabee who won iowa eight years ago. >> frankly that's wishful thinking because santorum had no organization when he won iowa in 2012. he had no money. it was a complete fluke. so he didn't have the organization in place to make anything of that. ted cruz is the exact opposite. and in fact he has one of the most organized campaigns among any of the republicans. he has the most cash on hand, he has staff who know what they're doing, aides who are really, really smart about this, know strategy, political strategy, and ted cruz himself is actually a very adept political strategist. so i would not expect him to fizzle into the background. he has a plan in place and he's executing on that place. >> he's not santorum and he's not huckabee. we'll see how he does in new hampshire and moving on to south carolina. stand by. we're awaiting donald trump. he's at a rally down in florence, south carolina, right now. the crowd -- i assume it's a big

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lowest level in eight years of the let's go to our white house correspondent, mi cechelle kaczynski. you were there when the president went in to speak to reporters. >> he relished the news today, he announced that the u.s. economy created more than 150,000 jobs last month. that's enough to push the unemployment rate over the edge, drop it below 5% for the first time in nearly eight years. there's often news on points where there's crediticism. wages are going up, workplace participation is going up, these are full-time jobs so the president got political saying news of progress on this front and other fronts is inconvenient for republican stump speeches, as their doom and despair tour plays in new hampshire. just yesterday the president jokingly implied that he doesn't get enough credit for his record. today he talked about that in all seriousness.

listen. >> 57% of americans in polls say they don't think things are going well in this country. why do you think that is? >> there's still anxiety and concern about the general direction of the economy. if you look at some of the surveys, people feel better about their circumstances, their finances, but they're not sure about the future. and part of it is there's still a pretty big carry-over from the devastation that took place in 2007-2008. if your home value drops in half or you lose a job that he thought you were secure in or your pension suddenly looks vulnerable, you're going to remember that. had we adopted some of the policies that were advocated by republicans over the last four or five, six years, we know that we probably would have done worse. >> reporter: and the president acknowledged there's plenty of room for improvement. workforce participation is low

compared to the past. the unemployment rate for african-americans, that's also been dropping. it's still close to 9%. but the point that he wanted to get across is that what his administration has been doing is working, maybe giving himself some of that credit that he might feel is lacking, wolf. >> he inherited an awful situation seven years ago. what, unemployment rate was around 10% at that time. hundreds of thousands of jobs were being lost every month and things have clearly turned around. 4.9% unemployment is very good right now. michelle, thanks very much. mark preston, these positive job numbers in an election year, they have political ramifications. if the economy is good, if people have jobs, presumably that would be good for the democratic nominee. >> presumably, but we're talking about eight years of a democratic president, so that is stacked up against whoever the democratic nominee is. and to what the president said about the anxiety people are feeling, you walk around the streets of manchester here, this is an old mill town where folks

are making a living. this is a blue collar town that has had the bad effects of an economy. there's an incredible drug problem here, wolf. again, you have to look at the economy, how did this spur on. so president obama has a very fine line to walk as he goes through his final year right now. at some point there will be a democratic nominee and he has got to protect that person's flank. he has to continue talking about the good things his administration does but he's got to make sure he doesn't suck up all the oxygen because the new head of the democratic party, that democratic nominee needs to chart their own course. >> good point. dana, take a look at this quinnipiac university poll among democrats, likely democratic voters nationwide, back in december, not that long ago, hillary clinton had 61%, bernie sanders 30%. right now it's neck in neck, 44% for hillary clinton nationwide among democrats, 42% for bernie sanders. amazingly close, within the margin of error. you've got to give bernie sanders a lot of credit for doing that. >> you absolutely do. i mean, again, it bears

repeating that, a, he's not even officially a democrat or hasn't been historically, he's independent. he's a self-described democratic socialist, but this is exactly why in last night's debate hillary clinton went so hard against bernie sanders, trying to from her perspective expose that he's not just mr. rosy out there saying he's going to do everything for college kids and for people across the board to give them health care, but he also, again from her perspective, is playing like a regular politician. she said he was insinuating things about her, so on and so forth. that is exactly why you saw her go so hard because of those polls. >> and in new hampshire it's even worse. what is our poll, 61% -- 31% for her in new hampshire. a lot of democrats, including people close to the hillary clinton campaign, rebecca, are saying this is no longer a slam dunk for hillary. this could go on and on. eight years ago it went all the

way till june before then senator barack obama wrapped it up. >> it certainly k tcan. the clinton campaign is hopeful that in the south they will do better. when they move on to south carolina, to some of these s.e.c. primary states on super tuesday on march 1st that they will start to do better because the proportion of african-americans will be higher, clinton tends to do very well among those voters, minority voters in general. but i think we need to take another look at that, because we've seen bernie sanders with a lot of momentum. he's going to have more momentum coming out of new hampshire, and momentum helps in these races. >> can i add one thing to that. he also has money. and he has money that just comes at him without him really having to do very much to get it. >> $thr3 million in one day. >> and hillary clinton has to work for it. they do fund-raisers, she, her husband, her daughter, they have to do it. so the money will help him big-time to keep going. >> one thing that she has that he doesn't have because he doesn't want it is that super

pac. they raise millions an millions of dollars. that's going to clearly help her, although technically, locally there can't be any direct koerlcorrelation. let's talk about snl, "saturday night live." we learned that larry david is going to be hosting "saturday night live," we knew that. but we today lenders that bernie sanders is actually going to make an appearance there. larry david does an amazing, an amazing bernie sanders. but bernie sanders has a little comedic instinct himself. years ago we discovered this, but others have been watching it as well, he played a rabbi in a film, this was back in 1999. this is bernie sanders playing a rabbi. watch this. >> my name is rabbi manny shevitz and i am very pleased that you invited me to be with you today and i've prepared a few words. by the way, that free agency,

free agency crap, that really gets me. that's $2 million here and they spent $12 million there. what's so free about that free agency? i can't take that anymore. >> very funny if you watch the whole thing. >> i've been watching it on a loop on my fun. >> that's larry david over there. you don't know the difference. >> and he had the dead pan answer to anderson cooper the other night at cnn's town hall where he asked about larry david and he said i am larry david. you know, without cracking a smile. >> and usually these appearances, mark, on "saturday night live," whether it's donald trump or hillary clinton and now bernie sanders, usually it works out pretty well for them, doesn't it? >> it absolutely does. and look, rebecca and dana and i have covered capitol hill for a very long time. we know the players up there. we know the personalities. i never knew bernie sanders had a personality, it just didn't exist. look, what we've seen in these town halls, look at wolf, he's

probably going to be very funny tomorrow. during that town hall just a couple of days ago, at the very end of the questioning, he sat in a chair, he didn't sit upright, he slouched back. it was almost like, hey, i'm in a living room. who would have ever thought that he's a musician, he was an actor and now a serious presidential candidate. >> larry david says i don't have a backpack, i don't have a super pac, he is funny, rebecca, isn't he? >> he is funny. and like mark said, it's kind of a surprise. no one expected this of bernie sanders. no one expected him to do as well as he has. >> you covered the senator a long time. did you know that bernie sanders was funny? >> i did not. >> okay. >> we'll see him on "saturday night live" tomorrow night. all right, guys, we've got a lot more news coming up. let's take another quick break. we'll be right back. shorts, da. they don't make 'em in adult sizes? this is what the pros wear. look at the lines... -uhhh... look at the other line... -mm-mhh.. that's why he starts his day with those two scoops in deliciously heart healthy kellogg's raisin bran.

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there are new fears that foreign powers like iran and russia are making the crisis even worse. our chief national security correspondent, jim sciutto, has details on this deteriorating situation. it's awful what's going on. what's the latest? >> u.s. officials barely hiding their anger. u.s. officials livid in public comments on russian air strikes packing the syrian offensive. samantha power calling the bombing indiscriminate saying it is killing civilians in large numbers and must stop and now it is emptying aleppo of thousands of civilians. >> reporter: syrian forces closing in on the key northern

city of aleppo backed by iranian fighters in a relentless russian air campaign. the intense fighting is sparking a massive exodus of thousands of civilians fleeing for their lives. today, secretary of state john kerry accused russian air strikes of slaughtering civilians. >> in some cases after the bombing has taken place in the workers have gone in to try to pull out the wounded, the bombers come back and kill the people who are pulling out the wou wounded. this has to stop. >> reporter: the syrian advance opposite aleppo is a dramatic turnaround for bashar al assad. it comes at the expense at the moderate free syrian army backed by the u.s., compromising the peace process in hopes of a cease-fire. >> intense russian air strikes

mainly targeting opposition groups in syria is undermining the efforts to find a political solution to the conflict. >> reporter: now saudi arabia may soon join the fight. saudi officials announcing a massive military exercise with some 20 arab countries in preparation for military action on the ground inside syria. it's a move u.s. officials say they would welcome. >> they have a pretty advanced military in saudi arabia and they have special operations forces that do have unique capabilities that could advance the goals of our counter-isil campaign. >> reporter: still saudi ground forces would make an already crowd eed battlefield even more complex. >> the complexity of the syrian civil war is beyond anything we have seen in the last 50 years. by comparison vietnam, gulf war

one, gulf war two, all are cake walks. >> they will discuss the saudi offer of a ground offensive. u.s. officials making clear, wolf, of course, any actual deployment of ground forces can't happen overnight. there's exercises. >> it's hard to believe as bad as the situation over these past four years or so hundreds of thousands of people killed. millions made homeless. it's getting worse. >> it's a slaughter every day. it's unconscionable to watch. >> much more news right after this. put in the name of my parents and my grandparents. and as soon as i did that, literally it was like you're getting 7, 9, 10, 15 leaves that are just popping up all over the place. yeah, it was amazing. just with a little bit of information, you can take leaps and bounds. it's an awesome experience.

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ahead of this sunday's super bowl there's more awareness than ever of concussions and the degenerative brain disease they can cause. roger goodell spoke out about the issue. roger goodell said if he had a son, he would still encourage

him to play football. tell us what else he said. >> reporter: wolf, you remember last also week the league revealed 271 players suffered concussions this season. a new four-year high. that's up 200 from 206 just a year ago. goodell addressed several questions regarding concussions and gave his thoughts about them. listen. >> i played the game of football for nine years through high school. i wouldn't give up a single day of that. if i had a son, i'd love to have him play the game of football. i'd love him to play the game of football because there's values. there's risk in anything in life. there's risk if you sit on the couch. >> reporter: peyton is said to become the older starting quarterback in super bowl history. 18 years, that's a long time to play the game when the average career is about three and a half

years. peyton has missed six games this season with a foot injury. he's had three neck surgeries. it is not fun, but peyton manning can still destroy you with his decision making. he's making his fourth super bowl appearance. potentially he'll ride off into the sunset of an historic career. >> i remember those days well. who do you think is going to win on sunday? >> reporter: a former bill and also a defensive guy, i have to go with denver, wolf. they're the number one ranked defense this season. being the underdogs in this game, they're going to have a huge chip on their shoulders. i think the broncos are going to shock the world and beat the panthers. what do you think, wolf? >> i'm an afc guy too. i'm on the same page. join us tomorrow. a cnn bleacher report special

"kickoff by the bay." that's saturday afternoon 2:30 p.m. eastern right here on cnn. thanks for watching. "erin burnett outfront" starts right now. next, donald trump a no-show in new hampshire. will it matter? the issue that just won't go away for hillary clinton, her ties to big banks. will she be able to convince voters semesthe's not in wall street's pocket. let's go "outfront." good evening. i'm erin burnett. outfront tonight, snowed out. donald trump left new hampshire last night to go home to new york city. this morning twee